by Lincoln Cole
“Anchor?”
“Many demons don’t have strength enough to take control of a host on their own. Those ones prove easier to bring in, but they also tend to fizzle out. Like worker bees in a hive, and when things are going good, they remain completely in control, but when they don’t receive directions, they devolve and fall apart. The first demon that Leopold summoned would have provided a sort of foundation for the rest like a general for his army.”
“Army?”
Arthur hesitated, and then said, “I think he brought in a fairly large group of demons before we got here.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know,” Arthur said. “I also don’t know how he did it. Bringing in one demon is a difficult task. Bringing in a dozen should be impossible. I wish I knew what his endgame is, but I don’t. All I know is that whatever he planned, it was way bigger than just Everett.”
“Thank God we stopped him, then,” Jackson said.
“We haven’t stopped him yet,” Niccolo said.
Arthur agreed, and it just made the fact that the bishop had gotten away that much worse.
Niccolo turned back to Arthur. “So, if we get rid of that demon, it would be like chopping the head off the snake?”
Arthur nodded. “Maybe not, but worth a shot. Let’s go see Rose.”
◆◆◆
By the time they arrived at Rose’s home in the suburbs, the weather had taken a turn for the worse. The clouds gathered thick enough to block out most of the sunlight. It hadn’t started raining yet, but it wouldn’t take long before the skies opened up.
Richmond Street and the surrounding neighborhood appeared empty and quiet when they approached. Rose’s house looked uninviting and closed up from the outside, and Arthur worried that maybe she would have gone as well.
He would manage to hunt her down, of course, but it would take time. Days, maybe, and he needed that time to spend tracking down the bishop.
He parked the car in front of the house and climbed out. The other two followed him, but they didn’t approach straight away. Arthur gave them a moment to gather their courage. Even if the demon had gone, it seemed that the time for disguise had come and gone. What they would find inside, doubtless, would prove terrible.
“I can’t believe I got it right,” Jackson whispered after a moment. “Rose really did have a demon possession. Demons are real.”
“Yes, they are.” Arthur glanced over at Niccolo. The priest looked terrified as if about to face his death.
Arthur could hardly blame him, considering how dangerous this situation had become. Honestly, if the two priests had any idea how dangerous this situation could actually get, they would run away screaming.
“Will you be all right?” Arthur asked.
Niccolo blinked and let out a shuddering breath. “No. I won’t be all right. I can’t do this.”
“Yes, you can,” Arthur said. “You’ve had training. You know the rituals. You know the process and what you have to say. You can handle this.”
Niccolo didn’t respond and looked anything but convinced. Arthur felt bad for him, but he didn’t have many options right now. He knew how to perform an exorcism and had even assisted on a few over the years, but he didn’t have permission to perform one on his own. Only the Church could sanction that, and the only ones who could approve them were exorcists.
Luckily, that meant Niccolo had the authority to sanction and perform this exorcism.
“It won’t unfold anything like you expect,” Arthur said. “When we get in there, you’ll see things you’ve never even dreamt of. Ignore it, and focus only on the task at hand.”
“I know.”
“The real world is different than what you learned at the Vatican. You’ve never seen a real demon before face-to-face, have you?”
Niccolo shook his head. “Never.”
“If you don’t think you can do this, then we should not walk through that door,” Arthur said. “This is your last chance to back out, and if you agree to do this, then there is no turning back. Do you understand?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t think you do,” Arthur said. “This will turn out nothing like you expect.”
“If we leave now, then what happens?”
“People die,” Arthur said.
“That’s why we have to do this.”
“You’re missing the point,” Arthur said. “If you attempt to do this and fail, then your fate will be much worse than death.”
The words had an effect on Niccolo, and he swallowed painfully as he thought over what Arthur had said.
“I know,” Niccolo said, finally. “We’re still doing this.”
“Very well.”
Slowly, they walked up toward the door to Rose’s little home. Arthur felt a tingling of nerves and worry at what would lay inside, but mostly because of his companions. He had faced situations like this before—though he didn’t quite know what to expect where the bishop was concerned—but the other two hadn’t. He felt unsure what he would do if they panicked and had a breakdown.
“How are you so relaxed?” Niccolo asked suddenly.
“What?”
“How can you stay so calm?” Niccolo said. “We’re walking into a woman’s home to face a demon possessing her, and that no doubt wants to kill us, and it feels terrifying. How can you stay so calm in the face of that?”
Arthur shrugged. “Yes, it’s terrifying, but I’ve learned how to control my fear and use it for my advantage. I’ve faced dozens of situations like this before. Each one as terrifying as the last, but after a while, you learn how to look past the fear and evaluate everything for what it is.”
“Any quick tips to help us not feel so scared?”
“Quick tips?” Arthur frowned. “No. It doesn’t work like that. In this business, nothing comes quickly.”
He reached up to knock on the door but hesitated with his fist a few inches away.
“Except death,” he added.
Then he knocked, pounding his fist against the frame. Nothing happened, and no movement came from inside the house. The three of them stood on the front steps, glancing at each other and waiting for someone else to act.
“Do you think she’s gone?” Niccolo asked.
“A possibility,” Arthur said. “Leopold might have taken her with him, but we won’t know for sure until we check.”
Arthur reached into his pocket and pulled out a small folded cloth. Inside nestled little angular tools that Niccolo didn’t recognize. Arthur slid one free, knelt, and stuck it into the lock on the door.
“You can pick locks?” Niccolo asked.
Arthur looked up at him. “I can do a lot of things.”
He slid the tool around for a moment, twisted it, and then turned the door handle. It opened a crack; just enough to see in. Arthur stood, put his tools away, and then turned to face the priests.
“Whatever we face in there,” he said, “it isn’t Rose. You need to know that because the demon will try to manipulate you if it senses any weakness.”
“We know,” Jackson said.
“No, you don’t know,” Arthur said. “But you’re about to find out.”
He pushed open the door.
◆◆◆
The house looked a mess and in complete disarray when the three of them went inside. It stank of rotten and fetid flesh, and the only sound they could hear came from a wheezing noise from further inside the house, and also the chime of an old grandfather clock as it ticked away time.
Niccolo grew horrified as they all stepped inside. The woman’s living room had an otherworldly feel to it like the air around them had something wrong. Inhuman was the best way he could find to describe it. It took his eyes a minute to adjust, and two yellow orbs in the darkness became the first things he saw.
Not orbs, he realized, eyes.
They watched him in the darkness. Slowly, Rose’s face came into focus. She looked wretched and broken with pockmarks and scars covering her face. Seated
on the floor, she had her legs twisted at an odd angle. It looked like she had fallen sometime in the last few days and broken her hip and had been unable to crawl anywhere. She looked grotesque and horrible.
If she seemed so to Niccolo, however, it would prove far worse for Jackson who knew her. From the look on Jackson’s face, the young priest might break down at any moment. Guilt and shame dominated his features.
“Hello again, Priest,” she said. Her voice came out wheezing and thick as if she had mucus at the back of her throat. “Good to see you.”
“Rose … I …” Jackson said. Niccolo felt for him. He had no idea what to say either. She looked horrid like she’d been through hell.
Probably, she had. Worse, they had come here only yesterday to visit her, and then had simply left. The guilt of that, knowing that all of this had happened after they’d abandoned her to the demon, tore at the priest.
The demon had hidden here all along, biding its time and waiting for them to leave so that it would have complete control over Rose. Now that it had no more reason to hide, and they knew it had come here, it would ravage Rose until she died, if only for the fun of it.
They had abandoned her.
“It looks horrible,” Jackson said, taking a half step back. “The demon. God … it …”
“What? Cat got your tongue?” the demon asked. The voice hardened. “You’ve come too late. We’ve done already.”
“Done with what?” Arthur asked.
Rose’s head shot to the side, eyes narrowing as she surveyed Arthur.
“Hunter,” she said. “I thought I smelled something disgusting here.”
“What was Bishop Glasser doing here in Everett?” Arthur asked.
“What does it matter?” the demon said. “That isn’t the real question you want to ask anyway, is it? Go ahead, ask me what you want to know. I might even give you a real answer.”
Niccolo glanced over at Arthur, who stood frowning. He looked calm and stoic, but a slight tremble in his hand gave away his true demeanor. To see him like that worried Niccolo. He knew Arthur’s reputation, knew what he had faced in the past.
If Arthur felt afraid of this demon, what chance did Niccolo and Jackson have?
“Do either of you have a Bible?” Arthur asked, turning toward the priests instead of speaking to the demon. “We need to get started. The demon can’t move the body any longer, but it remains dangerous.”
“I have one,” Jackson said, pulling a small tome out of his robes. “Abridged.”
“It will work. Most of what we need, we won’t find in there anyway. Niccolo knows everything he needs by memory.”
“Ask me, Arthur,” the demon said, leaning forward on the floor. Bones ground, and it sounded like nails on a chalkboard. The demon either didn’t notice or didn’t care. “Ask me about your family. Ask me why they got murdered. Ask me if Bishop Glasser did it himself, and if he enjoyed doing it. Ask me.”
Arthur refused even to look at the demon, but the expression on his face spoke volumes.
“Don’t listen to it,” Niccolo said, softly. “The demon wants to hurt you.”
Arthur nodded. “We will need holy water. You know what to do. And salt. Bring any salt you can find in the kitchen.”
Jackson headed into the kitchen to retrieve the items and speak his benediction. Niccolo watched him go, and it took him a long moment to realize that Arthur stood staring at him.
“Are you ready for this?”
“What?”
“Once we start exorcising this demon, we cannot stop. If we falter for even a few seconds, we risk losing Rose and so much more.”
“Losing Rose,” the demon said, cackling. “She’s gone.”
“My rosary got destroyed,” Niccolo said, shaking his head. Now that he stood in the room and faced the demon, his self-confidence had dropped to almost nothing. The idea that he could do this seemed like a wishful thought now, not even close to reality.
What in God’s name had made him think he could become an exorcist?
“I know,” Arthur said.
“I have no stole, no sacraments, and no rites. I have nothing I would need to exorcise a demon.”
“You know the rites,” Arthur said. “You don’t need a text to read them.”
Niccolo had memorized the rites of exorcism and recounted the words thousands of times alone in his apartment, but just now, they wouldn’t come to him. They floated around in his muddled mind, and he panicked.
“Relax,” Arthur said, gently. “The words are there, and they will come when you need them. Don’t worry about that. We have salt, holy water, and faith, and that offers enough. The rest only gives a crutch anyway.”
Niccolo took a steadying breath and nodded. “All right.”
“Guys,” Jackson called from the kitchen. “Get in here.”
The two exchanged a glance, and then hurried past Rose to the kitchen. Jackson had a bowl on the counter with a small cross floating in it, a salt shaker next to it, and a Bible on the other side. He stood at the small window overtop the sink, looking outside.
The sky continued to darken, and drizzle fell, but more than that had caught the priest’s attention. Two men stood out on the lawn, one carrying a baseball bat and the other a shovel. They stared at the house, unmoving.
“What are they doing?” Niccolo asked.
“I don’t know,” Arthur said.
“Waiting.” Jackson peered out through the window. “They’re both possessed.”
“More demons?” Niccolo asked, incredulous.
“Yes, but nothing like Rose,” Jackson said. “These look faint as if barely in control.”
“In control enough,” Arthur said.
He went over to the table and grabbed the salt shaker. Then he popped the top off and sprinkled some in front of the doorway, forming a thin line.
“Was this all the salt?”
“All I could find. I found it buried in the cupboards. If she had more, she disposed of it.”
“We’ll have to make do.”
Arthur headed back out to the living room. He grabbed the bowl on the way, and then set it down on the coffee table. Niccolo grabbed the bible and cross and followed.
He pulled the curtains aside, letting light into the room from outside. The demon let out a hiss, followed by laughter.
Another five people stood on the lawn out front, two women and three men. Tim and his wife stood there, Tim carrying an axe, and his wife had a pick. Their expressions looked empty and vacant and unfocused.
“What do we do now?” Niccolo asked.
“The same as before,” Arthur said. “Nothing has changed, the only difference is that now we have less time.”
He slid a gun out of his pants and popped out the clip, counting the rounds.
“No killing people,” Niccolo said.
“I don’t plan on killing anyone.” Arthur slid the clip back into place and chambered a round. “But I sure as hell won’t let them kill any of us. I know where to aim so as not to do critical damage. You need to start right now and expel this demon.”
“What do I do?” Jackson asked.
“Exactly what Niccolo says. You provide his greatest weapon. Just add your faith to his.”
“I’m sitting right here,” the demon said, rocking in the chair. “You think your faith gives you enough? I’ll rip your throat out and drink the blood.”
Niccolo did his best to ignore her, focusing instead on preparing for the ritual. He had walked through hundreds of these at the Vatican. He knew the steps, the rituals, the critical moments.
But all in theory. This would prove something utterly different.
He looked at Arthur. “What will you do?”
“Keep you alive,” Arthur said, heading toward the door. “Don’t screw this up.”
Then he headed outside. A moment came while the door stood open where they could hear the rain pattering heavily against the pavement outside, and then it muted once more.
Niccolo stood there, listening to the rain against the window and focusing on his breathing. After a moment, he realized that Jackson stood staring at him.
“What do we do?”
Niccolo didn’t have a good answer. He had trained his entire life for this moment, and he felt like it wasn’t enough. It couldn’t possibly ever be enough. He turned to face Rose, sitting in the chair and staring at him with her cold, yellow eyes.
“We begin.”
Chapter 19
The cold raindrops chilled Arthur’s skin as soon as he stepped outside Rose’s house. The possessed people stood in the front yard, staring at him, unmoving and unblinking as the rain ran down their faces.
He had his revolver, but only as a last resort and one he hoped he wouldn’t need. He had to hope that Niccolo would handle the demon inside quickly and that they would manage to make it out of here with their lives.
A few feet away from the possessed, he stopped walking and took a steadying breath.
“One chance, Hunter,” the woman standing in the middle of the group said. Her voice sounded loud in the rain, though her face barely moved when she spoke. She held a pick and seemed to stare over his shoulder rather than at him. “Walk away now, and we will let you live.”
“Not a chance,” Arthur said.
He edged to his left, flanking the group to see how they would react. None of them moved: they just kept staring forward at the house.
They were barely in control of the bodies, he realized. Their control seemed tenuous, and the hosts fought back. That meant that whatever anchored them here didn’t have much strength now that Bishop Glasser had gone.
Once the demon inside Rose got exorcised, then the hosts would manage to overpower the demons and kick them out of their bodies.
That brought the good news. The bad news came in that Arthur had to tread with care. The people possessed might not have died, and any damage he did to them now would prove permanent. If he killed any of them, he would have killed the innocent hosts, too.
What he needed to do was buy Niccolo and Jackson time to exorcise the demon inside Rose. The problem came from Niccolo not having experience and no preparation for this situation, and facing down a demon made for a serious proposition that proved difficult in the best of circumstances. Arthur didn’t have a lot of faith that he would succeed, at least not quickly.
